The Distance Project

Solving Meat Guilt?

Posted on January 15th, 2008 by Zach.
Categories: General, Sustainability, Water.

My mom raised us on meat. I love a good burger. Turkey sandwiches make up about 30% of my overall diet I would guess (Add turkey sandwiches to bowls of cereal and you get the majority of my diet. Hmm, and probably an odd window into my world)

But meat production is an issue, both environmentally and socially. I think we have all heard the arguments - huge land, water, feed issues with meat. Plus anyone who has been following the meat industry’s woes recently or seen some of the video from that story knows it is enough to gag slightly on your Sloppy Joe.

The reality is that I will probably never be a complete vegetarian, but I would like to solve some of the cognitive dissonance between these issues mattering to me and the volume of delicious BBQ ribs I cram into my face.

So what to do?

Recently I was up in New York, and caught a lunch with Josh Dorfman - the Lazy Evironmentalist himself. Being the enviro lifestye guru that he is, we ended up at Josie’s on 3rd. Josie’s has a kind of cool/chill vibe with a slight green twist. The food is good, making it a good spot to hang in Murray Hill if you are looking for a place to eat.

On the menu was quite a bit of meat, and this inevitably led to my asking Josh about different approaches to the issue. What he came back with is a simple starting point for lazy people: Meatless Tuesdays.

I love this! I can manage one day without meat pretty easily without upsetting my lifestyle, so in terms of actually sticking to the concept is shouldn’t be that hard. I might actually set a goal of reducing meat consumption that I can consistently stick to. Very exciting.

And it can build - maybe when I am hardcore it will be Tuesdays AND Thursdays.

Ah, but I am nube, so Tuesday’s it is, and actually, I have chosen Wednesday, so all you fools keep your Kabobs to yourself on that day.

For those looking to figure how to manage meat, I also really like this article on Grist. Worth checking out - especially the part about how sustainably managed, locally produced meat might have a lower overall impact than processed veggie action. This may lead to a whole other piece about the power of localization, the in terms of working out a healthy reltionship to meat, I found it to be a help.
Apparently Umbra and I share a love of Bacon.

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Laziness and the Environment.

Posted on June 18th, 2007 by Zach.
Categories: Sustainability, Industry, Pop-Culture.

This title looks like I am going to rail on people that are too lazy to care about the environment.

Not True!

No, as I have voiced here before, I am at my fundamental core - lazy. With so much change going on in the world I often feel like I just need a nap. Really it is the personal decision making process that is so exhausting. Should I get the Organic socks, or the recylced ones? Is a hybrid better or worse than running Biodiesel? What if my ethanol is from a corn based feedstock and not Switch grass or cellulosic waste product? Does that make me a horrible person? Should I reclaim some furniture that looks bad or buy new sustainable harvest wood designs?

Can you hand me that pillow, I’m just going to lie down here for a sec…

Fortunately there are many people out there to guide us through our new enlightenment. A Beacon of Green Light as it were. One great example just came out: